NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-23-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

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Donald Trump is starting his second term as president. What will his administration do and what policies will it promote? On the NPR Politics Podcast, we'll break down what the new administration does and explain why it matters. Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast every day. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. In his first broadcast interview, President Donald Trump defended his decision to issue pardons or commutations to roughly 1,500 January 6th defendants, many who pleaded guilty to criminal charges, including assaulting police officers.

Speaking with Fox, he explained why he issued the pardons. They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote. And that should be allowed to protest the vote. Some of the police officers who were injured on January 6th held their own news conference on Wednesday and were harshly critical of the pardons. Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services have been told to halt all public communications. This is according to a memo obtained by NPR

to the heads of all of the health agencies, including the CDC and the FDA. NPR's Selena Simmons Duffin reports. The memo was sent by Acting Health Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink. It instructs all health agencies to institute an immediate pause on external communication, including social media, until items can be reviewed by an appointee of the Trump administration. It asserts such a pause is, quote, consistent with precedent. The freeze on communications was first reported by the Washington Post. Dr. George's Benjamin is the president of the American Public Health Association

and says he's giving the HHS team the benefit of the doubt. They're simply trying to get their hands around the government. This is a big government, but it creates enormous confusion. He believes the communications pause could have been avoided if there had been a smoother transition between the Biden and Trump administrations. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News. A cryptocurrency coin created by President Trump is raising questions. NPR's Shondali Stuster has more.

Trump's meme coin launched on Friday and shot to a high of $73 on Sunday. Its market cap has reached over $8 billion in the past few days. A first lady Melania Trump meme coin has seen a market value of nearly $1 million. But legal experts see potential conflicts of interest now that Trump is president, since he has previously promised to promote the crypto industry. He told CNBC in December he believes crypto could benefit the US economy. We're gonna do something great with crypto cuz we don't want China or anybody else, not just China, but others are embracing it and

we want to be the head. The Trump family also has stakes in a crypto related company called World Liberty Financial. Shondalise Duster, NPR News. Police in San Antonio now say seven police officers were wounded Wednesday night by gunfire when officers responded to a suicide in progress that later turned into a barricade situation. The gunman is dead. The police chief said that the officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries and a perimeter was set up around the apartment complex.

You're listening to NPR News. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Wednesday with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The State Department said the purpose of the call was to underscore the importance of the call was to underscore the importance of the U.S.-Israeli relationship. In a statement, the State Department said Rubio congratulated Netanyahu for his military action against Tamas and his bova and pledged to help efforts to free the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Rubio also said he looks forward

to working with Israel in what the State Department said are threats from Iran and other ways to pursue peace. Prince Harry and a senior British lawmaker have settled a years-long litigation with Rupert Murdoch's British tabloids. NPR's David Folkenflick has more from London. With the settlement, Murdoch avoids a public trial at which Prince Harry and former member of parliament Tom Watson's lawyers would have laid out evidence of copious Lawbreaking by the tabloids and by the executives that oversaw them

The apology was the first time the Murdoch company had acknowledged wrongdoing at the Daily Sun tabloid The papers also apologized for putting Watson under surveillance while he was investigating the Murdoch owned tabloids in parliament Outside the courthouse Watson called for Scotland Yard to review the evidence that senior Murdoch executives covered up criminal acts-owned tabloids in Parliament. Outside the courthouse, Watson called for Scotland Yard to review the evidence that senior Murdoch executives covered up criminal acts by the tabloids, among them the company's British CEO, as well as the current publisher of the Washington Post, William Lewis. David Folkenflick, NPR News. On Wall Street Mark, it's Wednesday. Close the day with all three of the indexes in positive territory.

The Dow gained 131 points, the NASDAQ added 252, the S&P rallied 37 points as well. From Washington, this is NPR News, I'm Dan Ronan. Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music. Many years ago, I helped start the Tiny Desk Concert Series. And right now, NPR is looking for the next great undiscovered musician to perform behind the famous desk. Think you've got what it takes? Submit a video of you playing an original song to the Tiny Desk Contest by February 10th. Find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest.